PM Modi, Sheikh Hasina to virtually inaugurate Agartala-Akhaura rail link on Nov 1st

After successful trial run of first goods train conducted between Bangladesh’s Gangasagar station and Nischintapur station of Agartala Monday,  the decade long wait will come into reality as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina will jointly inaugurate three India assisted development projects on Wednesday via video conferencing including Agartala-Akhaura rail link.

Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha will also join the programme through video conferencing  at the virtual inauguration of Agartala-Akhaura rail link from Civil Secretariat, Agartala.

The three projects are Akhaura-Agartala cross-border rail link; Khulna-Mongla Port rail line; and Unit II of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant.

The Akhaura-Agartala cross-border rail link project has been executed under Government of India's grant assistance of Rs 392.52 crore extended to Bangladesh.

The length of the rail link is 12.24 km with a 6.78 km dual gauge rail line in Bangladesh and 5.46 km in Tripura.

The Khulna-Mongla port rail line project has been implemented under Government of India's concessional line of credit with a total project cost of $388.92 million.

The project entails construction of approximately 65 km of broad-gauge rail route between Mongla Port and the existing rail network in Khulna.

With this, Mongla, the second largest port in Bangladesh, will get connected to the broad-gauge railway network.

The Maitree Super Thermal Power project under Indian concessional financing scheme loan of $1.6 billion is a 1320 MW (2x660) super thermal power plant (MSTPP) located in Rampal in Khulna division of Bangladesh.

The project has been implemented by the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Private) Limited (BIFPCL), which is a 50:50 joint venture company between India's NTPC Ltd and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).

Unit I of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant was unveiled jointly by both Prime Ministers in September 2022 and Unit 2 will be inaugurated on Wednesday.  The operationalisation of Maitree super thermal power plant will enhance energy security in Bangladesh.

While, the successful trail run in the Akhaura-Agartala rail link came a decade after the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to start the first Indo-Bangla international railway service between Akhaura (Bangladesh) and Agartala (India).

This was the first goods train running on meter gauge entering Nischintapur from Bangladesh. The distance from Gangasagar to here is 8.1 km and the total project length is 12.24 km including 5.46 km on the Indian side and 6.7 km in Bangladesh. Gangasagar is the first station (on the Bangladesh side) that connects India via Nischintapur.